Dry Bones: UN Resolution 2334
Dry Bones: UN Resolution 2334Y. Kirschen

The Obama-Biden administration’s failure to veto UN Security Council Resolution 2334 on 23 December 2016 - as President Obama was vacating the White House to hand over the reins of power to President-elect Donald Trump – has seen that Resolution being weaponized for the last five years to incite Jew-hatred worldwide - with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres firing the bullets.

Guterres is required to report to the Security Council every three months on the implementation of Resolution 2334 and recently issued his 20th such report covering the period 29 September – 9 December 2021.

Guterres states:

“In its resolution 2334 (2016), the Security Council reaffirmed that the establishment by Israel of settlements in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, had no legal validity and constituted a flagrant violation under international law and a major obstacle to the achievement of the two-State solution and a just, lasting and comprehensive peace. In the same resolution, the Council reiterated its demand that Israel immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and that it fully respect all of its legal obligations in that regard. No such steps were taken during the reporting period.”

This Security Council Resolution falsely accuses Jews of:

  • Illegally settling in “the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 including East Jerusalem” (“Territories”): These Territories have been designated for 3000 years as “Judea and Samaria” and “Jerusalem” – the ancient and biblical heartlands of the Jewish People – and were so designated in 1947 by the UN Special Commission Report on Palestine and UNGA Resolution 181 (II).
  • Having no right to live in these Territories: All Jews living there were ethnically cleansed in 1948 by six invading Arab armies and prevented from returning until 1967.
  • Acting in flagrant violation of international law: The right of Jews to live in these Territories is expressly authorized by articles 6 and 25 of the 1922 League of Nations Mandate for Palestine and preserved until today by article 80 of the United Nations Charter.

Resolution 2334 institutionalized Jew-hatred in the Security Council. Jew-hatred is now being preached and practiced under the cover of United Nations respectability.

Guterres further points out:

“In its resolution 2334 (2016), the Security Council called upon all States to distinguish, in their relevant dealings, between the territory of the State of Israel and the territories occupied since 1967.”

Dealing with Jews living in Israel differently from Jews living in the Territories:

  • Violates anti-discrimination international humanitarian law
  • Disregards the UN Charter’s call “to practice tolerance”.
  • Constitutes racial apartheid

An Obama-Biden veto would have consigned Resolution 2334 to the dustbin of history – like so many other similar Resolutions reeking of Jew-hatred vetoed by them.

Then US Secretary of State – John Kerry – explained why America allowed this pernicious Resolution to pass:

“...the two-state solution is the only way to achieve a just and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians... the vote in the United Nations was about preserving the two-state solution”

Really?

A different solution worked successfully between 1948 and 1967: Unifying the two banks of the Jordan River to create one State replacing “Transjordan” - re-named “Jordan” in 1950.

Why couldn’t a similar solution work again?

Obama and Biden’s abstention-decision on Resolution 2234 – as they were leaving office - to preserve the two-state solution by creating a second Arab state in former Palestine in addition to Jordan – has seen Jews paying the price - being increasingly exposed to targeted attacks worldwide fuelled by UN Secretary-General quarterly reports on the implementation of a Security Council Resolution that falsely demonises the Jewish People.

Jew-hatred has become firmly entrenched in the UN Security Council to its eternal shame.

Author’s note: The cartoon — commissioned exclusively for this article — is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones”- one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators — whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades.